Czech Film Center

Synopsis

The island of Skitskoj is located on the North of European part of Russia, in an inaccessible forestland on the Pizma River, in the Pechora river basin. The Old Believers community lives there – hidden from civilization, the surrounding world full of changes. The documentary traces the progress of the transforming relationship between the Old Believers and us – the filmmakers. The focal point of the film is this meeting of ours. The documentary joins two stories together – the “dramatic” meeting which happened there – on Skitskoj Island, and the calm inner “meeting” after the return – in the broad “dialogue in the editing room” while finishing the film. It is a film about inner barriers, “islands” – isolation, fear and prejudices – on both banks, inside us and inside them. It is a story about the effort to build a common
joining “bridge.”